The Outcasts Who Lived
by Lady Jade Scribbler
Summary: Two thrust into the limelight, two shoved into the shadows. Caspian Potter and Laurel Longbottom have been dubbed the CWL but are they? Join Neville Longbottom and Sofia Potter   fem Harry    as they struggle to live in a world that doesn't want them.
1. The Attack

A/N:

Hey there! I have really worked hard on this story so I hope that everybody enjoys it. I've seen stories where Harry, (or his female counterpart,) is really the boy (girl) who lived, stories where Neville is the Boy-Who-Lived, and other such stories but I don't think that I have seen one quite like this. I just want to clarify a few things before you read.

Firstly, I ordinarily love James Potter very much, (not in that way, people since he's old enough to be my dad so don't even think about it) and I see his teenaged self as just that, a teenager. If you have got half a brain you will realise (hee, yay American me for using British spelling) that he is young, immature, and prone to mistakes. Most teenage guys are immature, egotistical, and will try and do whatever it takes to win over the girl they like or make themselves look cool or whatever. I had a bit of my own James Potter back in school but, unlike our lovely Lily Evans, I didn't wise up until I graduated. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah! On the flip-side of that coin, that little bit of his more unsavory quality that Rowling shows us can be easily exploited and so we basically get a James Potter bash-fest going on here. That is what I have done. In this fic James's worst aspects will be quantified just as in many fics, some of mine that have not yet been published included, Severus Snape's more likeable traits are quantified.

Next, onto Lily. I don't know why but I just cannot bring myself to bash Lily. I think it is because, odd as it is, I feel I can relate to her. If I could compare myself or become any Harry Potter character it would be either Lily or cannon (bang bang) Hermione. Hey! I have bright emerald green eyes just like Lily and was born with dark red hair even though I have naturally black hair now so I'm almost there! I even have teeth I rather wish were a bit nicer like Hermione and my hair's curly. I also really love Lily's character and I hate people who bash somebody who would die for their only child. She could have just as easily left baby Harry to Voldemort's tender mercies and started a new life with Snape or something, she didn't have to die. Also, it is hard to bash somebody who is basically written into the cannon (bang bang) series as a sort of earthbound angel who can do no wrong. The only "strike" against her is her friendship with Snape but that isn't even that bad. Think about it: some kid tells you that you are magic and you find out it's true, wouldn't you feel that you owed them your friendship? I can write Snape either way, however, good, bad, or sort of in between.

Why did I make Lily into a pureblood? I'm not entirely sure, it was sort of spontaneous. I guess I thought it would be fun for Lily to be able to throw her heritage into Voldemort's face like that. I also wanted to give Sofia a relative to escape to with Neville that would be on their side and fight for justice. God knows Prune-Face (hehheh I meant PETUNIA) wouldn't be that; plus, she's a Muggle. And why Madam Bones? I don't really know; I'm just rather fond of her; she seems like a good, no-nonsense, justice-giving sort of woman. Also, I didn't want to link Lily with the Weasleys or the Prewetts because that's been done before and I didn't want her linked to a family I created. Madam Bones was already described in OOTP as having grey hair but she could have once had red hair. Also, her brother was young enough to have a daughter in Harry's year in cannon (bang bang.) Lastly, I have heard Susan Bones described as being a red-head or at least a strawberry blond. Lily's heritage isn't a big part of the plot yet so I can change it if you only tel me in a lovely review.

So how did I get Neville into the mix, you ask? How did he get a twin? If I love Lily so much why off her? (Yay! British terminology...I think...) Allow me to explain. I didn't want my female Harry (Sofia) growing up in a conflicted household or a single-parent household, I wanted her to grow up knowing what a mother should not bee; cold, neglectful, and somewhat cruel. I have seen Lily play this roll in most fics but like I said, I couldn't do that to her. Why did I off Lily instead of having her be stunned like James and wake up to find out what a jerk (I mean prat/git) her husband really was, and whisk the true saviour off to the states or somewhere else? Firstly, that's not realistic. Second, I wanted Sofia to grow up with her twin and to grow up in the shadows. She will have to face many things but she will learn by experience just how effed-up the wizarding world really is.

So Alice, Neville, and Neville's twin? Well I didn't want an OC to be in the position of James's wife and I did not want to use a woman that goes elsewhere in the story, that I did not think that I could properly bash, and that would never be caught dead with a "light" wizard. Also, I do not write slash so that's out. I decided Alice was fine because even less was known about her than Lily, good or bad, the only thing being that she was Neville's mum who was tortured into insanity with his dad. That was AFTER the Godric's Hollow attack where Harry, in cannon, (bang bang,) was declared the boy who lived. Also, I decided that I did not want Sofia growing up alone. I wanted to give her somebody that would be her best friend, like the twin she basically lost, and maybe something more. I decided to make Frank a likeable and honourable character like Lily because I got the impression that later in the cannon (bang bang) series Neville became a lot like his father and he was like his father before. That's what I think, anyway.

So what of Laurel and Caspian? Well I created Laurel to give James and Alice an excuse to stay together; some crap about the supposed Children-Who-Lived growing up in a proper home. I made Caspian and Laurel the boy and girl who lived, at least falsely, for a few reasons. Firstly, like I said, it had to be a twin from one family and a twin from the other so that James and Alice could get together like they would have done except for their respective conquests. Next, if I had made it Sofia and Neville, that defeats the purpose of the story unless, of course, I made Caspian a Harry and put the story from basically chapter two onwards in his perspective. Then again, I couldn't make Neville a snob; he's much too sweet for that. Anyway, as I am a girl I am not comfortable with the inner workings, thoughts, and feelings of boys. Although one of my best friends is male, I have never been intimately and emotionally involved with anyone and feel I am well on my way to spinsterhood, I even have the cats. As such, I feel I would royally suck writing as a guy. Neville is a large part of the story, almost as large as Sofia, and there might be some bits in his point of view but that's about all I feel I can do. If I had made it, say, Neville and Caspian who were dubbed the supposed children who lived, that takes away some of my fun because that romantic aspect between the shadowed twins would have been totally taken away. Well at least for me it would have because I do NOT WRITE SLASH OR FEMSLASH! I don't mind homosexuality, really, to each his own I say, but I can't write it. I don't know anybody that has actually admitted or otherwise shown signs of being gay/lesbian/bisexual so I would be ill-prepared to describe and weave such a relationship into something believable. I might be able to write or otherwise allude to a slash or femslash pairing as long as it's minor like, say, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas or Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis or even, possibly, Siri and Rem but that's all. So now you know just why I chose who I chose.

What about Dumbledore, you ask? Dumbles, Dumbles, Dumbles. He's ever-so easy to bash, dear Dumbles. He is not all bad but not all good either. He will realise his mistake much sooner than the rest of the wizarding world but he's going to be reluctant about admitting it. He likes his power and prestige; anything that can take that away from him is a threat. He will be very manipulative and controlling in this fic; in short a total ass (oops, arse not ass, ARSE NOT ASS!) anyway, you'll probably grow to hate my incarnation of him. Like I said, he's easy to bash. You can't say he wasn't a manipulative old coot even in cannon (bang bang.) I was pissed (angry, not drunk, otherwise pissed off) when Rowling offed him because I was very fond (and still am) of him (even if I'm more fond of bashing him than anything else.) Throughout the fic, he'll try and "expose" Neville and Sofia as dark. Also, he won't stop their neglect nor will he give them the respect that they will earn in this fic. I think I will make him come around, though, at least be somewhat redeemed. Either that or he shall die in squalor and disgrace, mwahahaha!

There will be Weasley bashing a-plenty in this story so be warned. I dunno about Arthur, Bill, and Charlie yet but Molly, Ron, Ginny, and Percy will be bashed extensively. Also, Fred and George will be the only Weasleys that I outright refuse to bash (at least much) because I just love them so. Ron will be Caspian's best friend and Ginny will be Laurel's if not Hermione. I'm still not sure about Hermione Granger; I might at least bash her for the first year or two. Also, Luna Lovegood will not be bashed. I plan on making her Sofia and Neville's best friend at Hogwarts from second year on; I might even make her a year older so she can be in the same year. If I wind up not pairing Neville and Sofia together, Neville and Luna will be a couple for sure. I will, however, not do a threesome as I am generally uncomfortable about those except for one I am doing where a female Harry (Ivy/Jessamyn/Rosemarie, not sure which) is paired, due to her veela nature, with both the Weasley twins although the twins are not "with" each other but that's another story for another time. Also, I might make Draco Malfoy if not a friend than an ally. Also, Susan Bones will become a close friend as she is, unknowingly, Sofia's cousin.

And what of Siri and Rem? I really don't know. I plan on bashing one of them at least a little bit, probably a lot, but I'm not sure which one. There are either of two possibilities for them.

The first one is where Remus is the loving sort of distant uncle or cousin who visits them from time to time and shows Neville and Sofia affection. He knows what it is like to be lonely and looked down upon and so he understands. He will try and be the best sort of male roll model he can be but will not have much of a chance to spend time with Neville and Sofia as he is always being dragged away by either James or Alice to be with Caspian and Laurel. Sirius, on the other hand, will treat the forgotten twins like scum, worse than house-elves as James will because they, unlike their twins, are not symbols of the light, at least so he thinks. He will insult and belittle them just as his parents always did to him for not fitting into the proper and expected mold. He, in the end, will either be disgusted with himself and James, end their friendship with punches and a string of profanities, and spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to Neville and Sofia who is his goddaughter or he will continue to be a complete bastard like James.

The second scenario is this. Sirius knows what it is like to be the outcast, to not be loved in one's own household. Because of this, he spends all of his possible time with Neville and Sofia, supposed Children-Who-Lived be damned. He will be a great father figure and be very affectionate. Through him Neville and Sofia will be spoiled without actually becoming spoiled like their twins because they know not to take it for granted. He will only put on the facade of being James friend and of caring for the supposed Children-Who-Lived so that he can look after Neville and Sofia because if he fails to act as such, he will be banished from the house for good. Remember that he comes from a family of dark Slytherins so in this case he will act more Slytherin. He does, however, hate James Potter and Alice Potter (formerly Belle and Longbottom's) guts with a passion. I might, if I choose this scenario, pair Siri with Madam Amelia Bones. Remus, on the other hand, will be downright hostile to Neville and Sofia. He sees Caspian and Laurel as symbols of the light and, being a supposed dark creature, wants to ensure that everybody knows just how light he is despite that. He won't dare sully himself with the twins that Voldemort supposedly decided to pass over that fateful night. He might come around or he might not but I'm not sure, probably he'll always be a bastard in this case.

Honestly, now it's written down, I think I might go with the second one. In many of these false chosen-one stories, Sirius is almost always the one bashed, not Remus and that annoys me. I find Sirius to be quite loveable and, like James, he was a teenager once and made mistakes. I can do Siri and Rem either way. Remus is usually the good guy but on the flip-side of the coin he might do anything to prove he is not a monster even if he just becomes the very thing he tries not to become.

A few notes before I close this insane rambler of an author's note. I meant it when I typed 1991 and not 1981, that wasn't a type-o. I might want to take advantage of some technologies not made available until the late nineties at the least so I've pushed it up. I also don't know all the details of technology in the eighties and nineties since, although I am a nineties kid for the most part, I didn't really care back then. Who did? All most kids, (myself included,) thought was "Hey, this is fun!" so you get my point.

My next point, as you can probably tell by my funny parentheses near the beginning, I am totally and completely, 100% American, a west coast girl to be exact. I will try my very best to use all British phrases an exclamations and slang as well as spelling correctly. There is a special brit-picking do-it-yourself sort of guide by Pinky Brown that I highly recommend all Americans writing HP read. Trust me, it helps. All I had to say after reading that was "Damn do I feel stupid!" Anyway, all Brits reading my fanfics (at least all fanfics as of now as I will be taking my first three down for massive revision) please do not automatically press the "back," otherwise known as the "exit this god-awful story because I goddamn hate it" button; if I have made a mistake or committed some ghastly foe-pas. I ask that, if you're so inclined, please just let me know so I can better my non-American writing style. I'll never be as good as you real Brits, I don't even have British ancestry, I'm mostly German, but with Pinky Brown's Brit-checking guide and setting my spell-checker to United Kingdom I think I'll be all right.

Also, I am not sure how quickly I will be able to update. I'm sure this might piss some people off a bit but I just have the one chappy written out, the rest is still floating in disjointed little bits in my head right now. I will try and update at least bi-monthly if not more, university and all that lovely stuff. If in a month I have nothing I will try and let you know; if in three months I don't have anything, not even an author's note, you are more than welcome to send me irritated reviews and PM's, (although not too mean because I'm a rather sensitive person and cry easy,) and if in six months there is nothing I will post an author's note asking for somebody to either help me write this or just adopt it with the condition that I am their beta for this story so it doesn't fluctuate to much from its destined path. Oops, I sounded a bit like manipulative Dumbledore for a sec, didn't I? Anyway, I don't want this story to come to an untimely end so I hope if I cannot complete it somebody else can. I like to think that this story is better than the last three stories I posted here (shudders) and I hope it is enjoyed, or at least tolerated, by all. On that note, I shall attempt to end this insanely long, (five and a half pages,) author's note. I thank you for listening (or reading if you're not using Jaws For Windows screen-reading software like I do) to my wordy explanations and crap and hope that you haven't gotten bored with me already and pressed that back button. If you're still with me, (even if you skipped the author's note to go to the story,) I salute you. Now I tell you with a smile to sit back, relax, and watch the story of the Outcasts-Who-Lived unfold.

A/N 2: Oh, and reviews would be really, really appreciated. They motivate me. I don't care if they're "I like it," I hate it," whatever. Flames keep me warm at night but good reviews make me really happy. Just review, PLEASE?

Chapter One: The Attack

"Oh James." a young woman, around twenty-one years of age, sighed. "Are you sure it's a good idea? I want to see Frank and Alice as well as little Laurel and Neville just as much as you do; They're like my own children, you know, but are we safe? I know how much you trust Peter but I'm just not sure..."

"Don't worry, Lily-Love. Peter wouldn't _DREAM_ of betraying us. We're perfectly safe. And don't you think that you and me and Frank and Alice, with the prophecy hanging over our heads, could just use a break? That we deserve to relax a bit? That we need a night just to forget our troubles? We'll be just fine. Plus, I bet the kids would love to play. Sofia and Neville, Caspian and Laurel, they each get along so well with each other. I'm even considering a betrothal contract between them; our son with the Longbottoms' daughter, our daughter with the Longbottoms' son." a man of the same age said confidently and not without some measure of cockiness.

"James Tiberius Potter!" the woman, Lily, huffed. "I will _NEVER_ force my children into potentially loveless and miserable marriages and you _KNOW_ _THAT!"_

"But Lily-com" her husband, James, protested.

"No buts, James. We've talked about this before and it completely goes against the very foundation of my beliefs. The wizarding world is _SO_ seventeenth-century in _SO_ many ways! The entire system, in my opinion, needs a total overhaul and a make-over. If Caspian and Laurel and Sofia and Neville, hell, if Caspian and Neville and Sofia and Laurel fell in love with each other I'd be happy but if not, I'd still be happy. Now enough of this, I don't want to talk about it any more." Lily snapped, bright emerald eyes flashing fiercely, angrily swiping a tendril of wavy, dark red hair which had fallen out of its clip away from her face.

"Yes, Lily." James said with a sigh, averting his hazel eyes and running a hand through his unruly, jet black hair. Damn that wife of his to hell for being so intelligent. It was times like these that made him severely regret this particular conquest, for that was all this relationship was to him. Lily Evans was pretty, hell, she was drop-dead gorgeous, sexy, and beautiful. Lily Evans had a fiery spirit that would not be quelled. Lily Evans was outspoken and independent. Lastly, and most importantly to James, Lily Evans was the only girl of the entire school to refuse his advances. That first day in third year where he had decided to totally enamour the brainy red-head Muggle-born and she had deliberately and obviously snubbed him for everyone in the Great Hall to see, James had decided that, come Hell or high water, Lily Evans would be his and his alone. Sure, all those traits were totally attractive to a teenage boy who was not yet married and the more she showed that iron will of hers the more he wanted to achieve this particular conquest but being married to her was always one trial after another. Those love potions and loyalty drafts he had slipped to her over their sixth and seventh years and had continued slipping to her didn't cut off her free will, after all, at least not the free will that didn't have to do with James. Yes, it was times like these that James Tiberius Potter wished he'd just taken a trophy wife like most all the other purebloods.

"So Alice and Frank? Shall we invite them over, then?" Lily asked her husband. "I suppose I don't see the harm."

"_EXCELLENT!_ I'll go floo-call them." James piped, smiling and rushing out of the kitchen and into the living room. But of course he didn't tell Lily that the main reason he had volunteered to floo call them was because he wanted a good view of Alice Longbottom, formerly Prewett's, long legs, tan skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Sure, Lily was beautiful; she had that hair, those eyes, that round face and creamy skin. She had long legs as well, a relatively large bust, and an hour-glass figure. But Lily was also tall and willowy, reaching a grand five ten. James was one of those short guys, only five six, and Lily practically towered over him. He hated it, it made him feel inferior. Lily didn't seem so tall in third year. What he loved about Alice was that she was small, petite, and pixy-like. At five three, she was shorter than him. She had ample curves and bust. For her height, she was leggy and James liked leggy women. So fixed on his horny fantasies was he that he stood there for a good three minutes or so. Eventually, he snapped out of it. Grinning broadly, he threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace, stuck in his head, and shouted the address. His head felt like it was spinning like a top on steroids but after awhile the spinning stopped to show a well-decorated sitting room. After a few minutes of waiting James grew impatient and called out.

"Heeelooo! Aanybooody hooome?" There was the sound of running feet and James was pleased to see that it was Alice who came to answer the floo.

"Hello, good lovely sir, so sorry to keep you waiting. I do hope you haven't been in that blasted fire for too terribly long." She said, smiling saucily down at James.

"Fear not, my fair lady, I am in no distress." James responded, sending Alice a flirtatious wink and grin. Alice giggled prettily, fluttering long blonde lashes.

Alice was much like James in many ways. Where Lily was James's conquest Frank was Alice's. The woman had grown up poor so the very thought of the Longbottom fortune had made her practically salivate from the time she first laid eyes on Frank. He was a mild-mannered sort of man who didn't get angry easily and who didn't like confrontation. Most other rich pureblood heirs were too domineering, too intellegent, either that or they just weren't rich enough for Alice's tastes. But Frank, he was easy to sway. Alice might have gone for James herself if she hadn't known from that day in third year he'd want Lily Evans as his own personal conquest. It was hard, however. Frank was shy and had no confidence whatsoever. He was, however, apparently used to being pushed around by the women in his life for he let Alice be the leader and man of the relationship no problem. Unlike James, Alice didn't need to secretly feed Frank love potions although she did give him a small dose every day to be on the safe side. He did used to appear to fancy Lily Evans, after all. Lily, James, Frank, and Alice had all been in the same year at school but in different houses. James and Alice were Gryffindors while Lily had been a Ravenclaw and Frank a Hufflepuff.

"Lovely." Alice responded after a moment.

"So what's going on on your end? Anything earth-shattering happen in the absence of my presence?" James asked cockily.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Frank's mother has been killed. Yes, you heard me right, killed. Old Augusta thought she'd shop around a bit in Diagon Alley but unfortunately for her she had to come right during a raid. The crone didn't stand a chance. Personally, and I'm sure you'll agree, I'm glad to see her be put down, and permanently." Alice said. Now, with Augusta Longbottom out of the picture, Alice could raise her children how she wanted to and she would never have to endure the old woman's snubs or harsh critiques again.

"Clearly. Well I have flooed you to ask if you and your lovely little family would care to come over to our place? Just to relax a bit? Forget about this war and the prophecy for a while?" James asked.

"Oh, we'd be utterly delighted. Thank you, James, thank you so much. I can tell Frank it will help numb the pain of the hag...erm...his mother's passing." Alice said.

"Yeah. And maybe if we're lucky you and I will get to perhaps convince Lily and Frank into signing betrothal contracts for our children. Just bring out the aged Firewhiskey." Alice said.

"True." James conceded. "But Longbottom might be a total lightweight, drunk after a thimble of the stuff, but you no Evans, she could drink the best of us under the table in no time; a constitution of unbreakable steel, I swear, and she still remains sober."

"Can't blame a woman for trying. Now you go on back to your lovely little wife and tell her we'll be over soon." Alice said. With a flirtatious little smile, wink, and wave she flounced out of the room and James pulled his head back away from the flames.

Not fifteen minutes later Alice Longbottom stepped gracefully through the floo, two fifteen-month-old toddlers in her arms.

"_ALICE!"_ Lily exclaimed. "How are you?"

"Hey, Lil, I'm all right but I suppose things have been better. Frank's mother found herself in Death Eater crossfire this afternoon and she didn't make it. So how are things?" Alice asked her so-called "friend," a friend she had manipulated into being so just as James had manipulated Frank into being his friend. Before this prophecy hoopla, the Potters and the Longbottoms had been acquaintances of a sort. James was chummy with Alice and Lily and Frank got along well but it didn't go beyond that.

"They're going well, very well. Caspian still hasn't talked very much yet but Sofia is just a torrent of non-stop talking when she's around me, at least. James says she still wont say much around him but I don't know. Caspian is a mischievous little scamp, I caught him climbing my bookshelves the other day. How are sweet Neville and little Laurel doing?" Lily asked.

"Oh, splendidly! Laurel likes to talk a lot as well but I can barely understand her, just baby babble, really. Neville is shy and he doesn't talk much but when he does it is, like with Sofia, in near complete sentences. Both of them are walking well, Laurel likes to dance. Now where is that husband of mine?" Alice asked nobody in particular. Right at that moment, a man came whizzing through the fireplace, toppling over and sliding a good deal on the hardwood floor and half way under the coffee table. Blushing profusely, Frank Longbottom slowly got up and dusted himself off. Frank was a tall, broad man of about six foot three. He had wavy mahogany hair which he kept nearly to his shoulders, a kind, roundish face which was not so round due to the fact he was no longer a child, and soft forest green eyes.

"Ahem...sorry about that...bloody floo always trips me up." he said ruefully.

"Frankie-my-love, it's a good thing I don't let you go through the floo with the children, isn't it?" Alice asked with a, to Frank, sincere laugh.

"Guess so." he responded, gingerly taking Neville from his wife's arms and cradling him.

"Good to see you, mate." James said, clapping his free hand on Frank's shoulder. Lily had set Caspian in his other arm before the Longbottoms came. Currently, she held Sofia in her arms.

"Good to see you too, James." Frank said. With a tired sigh, he sank onto the Potters' couch.

"I'm so sorry to here about your mother, Frank. She was a good woman and will be missed." Lily said, genuine sadness etched into her soft face.

"Yeah, mate. A real shame, that." James said. Frank didn't catch the sarcasm there but Lily and Alice certainly did. Alice winked at James while Lily gave him a look that said that they would be exchanging words later.

The adults carried on, having a good old time while the children played in the playpen in the corner of the living room.

"Goodness it's getting late!" Lily exclaimed, looking over at the sleeping children. "Frank, Alice, would you like me to take the children upstairs to bed?"

"Thanks, Lily. We'd appreciate that." Frank said, smiling gently at the red-head mother of two.

"Frank, why don't you help her?" Alice asked. Frank nodded and stood up, grabbing his children. Lily smiled at him and took up her own son and daughter into her arms. Together, the two headed upstairs into the nursery. Lily put Caspian and Sofia in one crib, Frank put Laurel and Neville into the other. Just as they were straightening up, there came a bang from downstairs.

"What's ha-ha-happening!" Alice yelled from downstairs.

"It's him, _IT'S_ _HIM!_ Lily! Take Cass and Sofe and _RUN_ _LIKE_ _HELL!"_ James shouted up the stairs, being extra-theatrical.

"_FRANK!_ Get Laur and Nev and go with Lily to safety!" Alice shouted.

"_NO!"_ Frank and Lily both shouted back.

"James, my love, I can't leave you!" Lily cried out.

"Alice, I can't leave you on your own." Frank loudly proclaimed.

"_GO!"_ James and Alice shouted.

From his spot in the doorway, Lord Voldemort sneered at the display shown. Stupid mudblood, stupid blood-traitor! Did they not realise they were being played like a violin? That their supposed "loves," their own spouses didn't love them? That they were going to die? And this was why it was he, the feared Lord Voldemort, would never love. It was a filthy, disgusting thing that made people act like a pack of wild, sex-crazed barbarians with a penchant for soap opera drama, not that he, the great Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-named, and all that rubbish knew about something so lowly as a Muggle soap opera, of course. All he knew was that love was a foolish human emotion that he would never feel. However, he wasn't against using it to manipulate people to do his bidding. And so he decided, for now, that he would spare the devious couple in the living room. It was leverage. Gliding into the living room, Lord Voldemort cast two silent stunners, they never saw them coming. Then, cackling like a mad hyena, he shouted "_AVADA_ _KEDAVRA!"_ as loud as he could, two times at two different things; a vase and a candy bowl which fell to the floor with a bang before shattering into a million tiny pieces.

"Alice, Alice, _AAALLLIIICCCEEE!_ _NOOOOO!"_ came the voice of the blood-traitor.

"James...not James...please no...God no..." the mighty Lord Voldemort, with his super-awesome hearing, heard the mudblood mumbling. His laughs increased when he saw that the fools upstairs didn't even have their wands; oh what fun it would be for he, the dark Lord Voldemort, to take them out. Smirking a snake-like smirk with his thin lips, he grabbed up the wands and put them in his pocket. Cackling even more madly to himself, oh how fun this was, the all-powerful Lord Voldemort slowly slithered, as much as a two-legged one can slither, up the stairs.

The fools had actually tried to barricade the door. It was sad, really, the Muggle-like attempt at protecting themselves. Lord Voldemort simply snorted and with a silent "_BOMBARDA!"_ the door and the changing table on the other side of it exploded into a multitude of splinters.

"_FOOLS,"_ he laughed cruelly, "Did you think that you could keep I, the great Lord Voldemort, out? Your Muggle attempts _DISGUST_ me."

"Like we really give a damn what disgusts your murdering arse, you hypocritical half-blood bastard child?" Lily snarled, emerald eyes flashing angrily, face set in a position of clear defiance. Frank Longbottom, the woman of the Longbottom marriage, Lord Voldemort was certain, was standing just as defiantly next to her. What Alice never seemed to realise was that in battle Frank Longbottom was just as fierce as the rest of them, perhaps even more so because when he was the tender age of sixteen Death Eaters killed his father and older sister, Noelle. Lily was so fierce because one, she hated that snake-faced bastard and all that he stood for and two, it was he that killed her parents. It was during the summer and the intent was to kill Lily and her Muggle sister, Petunia, as well but both Lily and Petunia, at the time, were out of the house. Lily was just thirteen years old. At least, she always thought sadly to herself, her father was able to get one good shot in. Her father, an avid nature fanatic, had been filming some deer in their back yard because they lived out in the country on a few acres of land with horses and everything. When Voldemort had come, he had dropped the camera onto the coffee table and never turned it off. Lily knew, because of this, that her father had shot Voldemort right above the heart, sadly not a fatal enough blow to kill him, before he was tortured for his sheer gall and killed along with Lily's mother.

Lord Voldemort swelled in rage at the mudblood's assertion; how did she find that out? How did she know? How _DARE_ she talk to him in such a way? The filthy mudblood bitch would pay for that, that was for sure.

"How _DARE_ you talk to me like that? How _DARE_ you say such a thing about I, _LORD_ _VOLDEMORT?"_ he snarled.

"Oh yes, Lord Flight-For-Death, how _DARE_ _SHE?_ Hmmm, how about because it's true?" Frank Longbottom sneered out, his timid personality vanishing as soon as he entered the battlefield and yes, that's what this was to him, a battlefield.

"That's right, Tommy dearest. You've got some major Daddy issues, haven't you? Just because Mummy Merope Gaunt was a cross-eyed, inbred, near-Squib who was too ugly and crazy to get the handsome, aristocratic, snobby Muggle Tom Riddle to fall in love with her without a love potion? Just because when she took him off the potions in the ridiculous hope that a man like him might love a foul woman like her he left her, pregnant and pennyless on the London streets? Just because Mummy Merope gave birth to you at an orphanage and didn't use magic to save herself, leaving you in what might as well have been the very pits of Hell itself? Just because Daddy Tom never went looking for you? Oh _HELL_ _YEAH,_ Tom Marvolo Riddle, you got issues." Lily snarled.

"Foolish little mudblood whore, I would not be talking like this to me, the great Lord Voldemort, if I were you. I hold your life in the very palm of my hand, Lily Evans, and I can squeeze it out, little by little, like one squeezes a lemon or I can pop it like one pops a balloon." Lord Voldemort hissed with a twisted grin.

"Or you can slither your filthy self back into the disgusting pit from whence you came and forget that this _EVER_ happened." Frank said.

"_HA!_ You wish it so, do you not, blood-traitor? Tell me, why do you two defy me? Join me and you could be _GREAT!_ Your husband and wife are dead by my hand tonight. Your husband and wife that lost their lives to protect you. Your husband and wife that so _CLEARLY_ loved you. You could join me, Lily Evans, Frank Longbottom. I shall even look over your prier mistakes and those of your family. I shall even look over the fact that one of you is a-com"

"Pureblood, I'm a pureblood. I might as well tell you, Tom. I found out that I am not, as you put it, a mudblood but a pureblood. Does the name Lillian Bones, stolen at birth, ring a bell? I thought so. But nobody knows, not Amelia, Edgar never knew, nobody but my birth parents and I told them on their deathbed. But that doesn't mean I'll ever join you." Lily said smugly.

"Still, you could both be great. And now I know you are of pureblood stock, you shall be even more of a grand addition to my ranks. I shall only ask one thing, a token for your entrance. Give me the children, all four of them. Do not worry about them, they are only children and you can always have more with each other or somebody else. I have many loyal followers who would love to procreate with a Bones or a Longbottom, two very prestigious families indeed. We must ensure that the prophecy is fulfilled _PROPERLY,_ mustn't we?" Lord Voldemort asked nastily.

"You...you...you _COMPLETE_ and _UTTER_ _BASTARD!_ If your hideous, hairless _ARSE_ thinks that I would give up _MY_ _BABIES_ then you've got another thing _COMING!"_ Lily snarled. And then, the nasty, blood-traitor, as-good-as-a-mudblood bitch ran up and _PUNCHED_ him in the _NOSE!_ "You insolent little _BITCH!_ You shall _DIE_ for that!" Voldemort roared.

"Well at least I got one last shot in, just like my _DAD._ The dad that raised me." Lily said proudly.

"Frank? What about you? Surely you have more sense than this fool?" Lord Voldemort asked silkily.

"Never...I am better than that...I can't give up _MY_ _CHILDREN!_ _ONLY_ _IN_ _YOUR_ _DREAMS,_ SNAKE-FACE!" Frank said, getting louder and louder. Both parents moved in front of the cribs housing their respective children.

"You are fools, do you know that? _FOOLS!"_ the great and fearsome Lord Voldemort roared furiously.

"_GO_ _TO_ _HELL!"_ the two chorused together.

"Have it your way! _AVADA_ _KEDAVRA,_ _AVADA_ _KEDAVRA!"_ the merciful Lord Voldemort, who decided to kill them instead of torturing them first, roared. The two curses hit the targets dead on, they didn't stand a chance. Both the bodies of Lillian Amelia Bones, also known as Lily Mia Evans-Potter and Franklin Augustus Longbottom fell with a meaty thunk to the floor.

"Mmmmmuuuuummmmmaaaaa! Mumma no-go-go!" shouted a little girl in the left crib, a little girl with dark red hair and bright emerald eyes just like her mother.

"Da-da faw-dow bye-bye?" asked a little boy in another crib, a little boy with mahogany hair and forest green eyes. The other two children, a pudgy black-haired boy with hazel eyes beneath his lids and a twiggy little blonde girl whose eyes would open and show themselves to be blue, slept on soundly.

"That's right, you nasty little brats, and _YOU'RE_ _NEXT!"_ Lord Voldemort cackled. He could feel the power rolling off those two children in particular in waves, the magic of the other two was mediocre at best compared to them. He wanted to get both of them out of the way at the same time in case the other retaliated so he pulled out his second wand, one for special occasions, and held it in his right hand. His first wand was yew and phoenix feather, thirteen inches; his second was ebony and Hybridian Black dragon heartstring.

"Bye-bye, _BRATS!"_ _AVADA_ _KEDAVRA!"_ A green jet of light erupted from both of Lord Voldemort's wands at the same time. They soared towards their targets, hitting both tots at the same time on the middle of their foreheads. Instead of slumping dead as the knowledgeable Lord Voldemort expected them to do, the tiny tots stayed in the same position, standing upright in their cribs, grasping the bars, and glaring defiantly at him. The curse did nothing more than carve cuts into the middle of their foreheads in the shapes of lightning bolts. Lord Voldemort was so entranced by what he was seeing that he did not, or could not, move. A bright gold light enveloped both of the tots and they staggered closer and closer to each other. When their hands grasped and clasped at each other through the bars of the crib, (a feat not too difficult as the cribs were back-to-back,) the glow surrounded them in a dome of pure gold light that was dazzling and blinding in its intensity. Then, two beams of pure gold energy lanced out from their foreheads and pierced Lord Voldemort right in his chest. He shrieked in pure agony as his makeshift body exploded in a shower of magic. His spirit, only held in tact by his anchors around the country, fled the house as quickly as it could. As the spirit fled, so too did a grey rat with a long tail, two wands between its teeth. The magical backlash of the reflected killing curse bounced and vibrated around the room, causing the walls and ceiling of the nursery to begin to cave in. Everything, non-organic that is, in the room was charged with wild magic so as two pieces of plaster scratched the tender skin of the other two children, two scars were created that, like the scars of the true vanquishers, could not be healed.

At the half-death of the caster of the stunning curse, both James and Alice jerked quickly awake.

"Hmmm...wha?" Alice murmured, rubbing at her eyes. It was then that both of them felt the house shake and heard the sound of part of the house crumbling.

"Come on, Alice, _NOW!_ We have to get up there and see just what happened." James said, getting to his feet and holding out his hand to help Alice up.

"Oh...you're right, I suppose. I don't know just why...but I feel that You-Know-Who is gone at last." Alice said. Quietly, sneakily, and stealthily the two crept up the staircase and towards the nursery. They came upon it to find the door blasted into bits as well as what looked to have been the changing table. They entered and gasped at what they saw. The nursery was half-destroyed, a gaping hole exposing it to the elements. Both moved some of the rubble aside with their wands to reveal not only the floor but what was on it. The first things that they saw were the bodies of their respective spouses. Lily lay in front of Caspian and Sofia's crib; her red hair splayed out like a blood-red halo, that last look of defiance etched onto her porcelain visage and still showing in her glazed emerald eyes. Frank lay in the same state as Lily in front of Laurel and Neville's crib; his gentle features showing determined defiance, his forest eyes still showing the echo of an angry flash, his mahogany hair tousled around his head.

"Oh...oh my." Alice gasped. Frank was dead and it was not through her own machinations.

"Lily." James said softly. The more human part of him was somewhat sad at the loss of the woman who so loved him, if only artificially, but the main part of him simply thought, oh well...it was fun while it lasted. The odd thing was that neither Lily's or Frank's wands were around. Between the two dead bodies they found something most peculiar. A crumpled black cloak was there, all covered in ash.

"Do you think?" Alice asked.

"Yes, I do." James said. Two children wailing loudly broke them out of their musings and James and Alice rushed over to the cribs holding their children. The children crying so loudly were not the true saviours but their twins. Looking upon them both James and Alice gasped at the cuts on their children's cheeks. Alice tenderly cradled her daughter as James did the same to his son. Both of them were absolutely certain that it was Caspian and Laurel who defeated Lord Voldemort for, unlike Neville and Sofia, they were awake and, unlike Neville and Sofia, their cuts still bled. Also, the cut on Laurel's left cheek was in the shape of a heart, the symbol of happiness and love and the cut on Caspian's right cheek was a cross, the symbol of purity and goodness. Both of them were so proud, so certain that they had saviours for children. They did, all right, but not the ones they thought.

They sent a patronus message to Albus Dumbledore right away and he arrived promptly. Upon examination of all four children, he agreed with James and Alice's conclusions. He told them that both Caspian and Laurel had clearly survived the killing curse for the residue was around their cuts. Also, the symbols that their cuts were shaped as were clear indicators. Lastly, They were still awake, clearly their was much power to behold if they were still awake after such an ordeal.

Conversely, he discounted any thoughts of Neville and Sofia having anything to do with the dark lord's downfall. For one, they weren't even awake. Then, their scars were not of any significant symbol although the residue clung even more thickly around them. Lastly, they were just that, scars, already healed. And so the leader of the light concluded, upon seeing the plaster bits in each crib, that Neville and Sofia must have been cut by the plaster which was charged by the wild magic that had destroyed Lord Voldemort. This plaster created scars that could not be healed. It was nothing more, he was sure. But if only he had not gotten it flip-flopped.

The news that two toddlers had defeated such a feared lord as Lord Voldemort spread fast, being published in a special edition of the Daily Profit the very next morning. Nobody truly and completely believed it until Albus Dumbledore himself along with James Potter and Alice longbottom held a press conference.

"Let it be known," Dumbledore proclaimed, "that on the night of October 31, 1991, two children defeated Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord since Salazar Slytherin himself. They were each hit with a killing curse sent by Voldemort and reflected it back on him, becoming the first people ever to survive said curse. Let it be known that Caspian James Potter and Laurel Alice Longbottom are the boy and girl who lived." And from there everything changed. From there two children were thrust into the limelight and treated like royalty. From there two children were shoved back into the shadows and treated like arrant pests. But it would be a considerable amount of time until the wizarding world found out the mistake it had made for Neville Franklin Longbottom and Sofia Lillian Potter were the true boy and girl who lived.


	2. We Will

fA/N: Hey, everyone! So sorry for not updating sooner. Okay, I just thought I'd highlight a few changes I've made to chapter one. First, Alice's new maiden name is Prewett, like Molly Prewett, later Molly Weasley. ALICE is Molly, Fabian, and Gideeon's younger sister. They never said in the books that the Prewetts _ALL_ had red hair so Alice's blonde hair stays. Second, there was a flub-up on my part where I had typed "Cass and Viv" instead of "Cass and Sofe," from when her name was originally Vivian. It's fixed now. Also, I added a bit more detail to the looks of the adults. This chapter chronicles Neville and Sofia's life up until their eighth birthday. There is some nice James and Alice bashing in this chapter as well as passive Remus bashing. I don't really know anything about bitterness towards a parent or losing a parent or disliking a sibling, especially a twin, or child neglect or anything but I'm trying the best that I can. Just work with me, okay? I've worked really hard on this. Like I said, sorry for not updating by the first. I'll try to have my next chappy by March 10th or sooner; I'm already a bit into it. Also, if you can't pick up on the hints, I have made Sofia a metamorphmagus although, at this point, she can't do more than hair and eye colour. Also, thanks to you reviewers out there! _FOUR_ _REVIEWS!_ That's more than I've gotten for _ANY_ _STORY_ and this was just the first _CHAPTER!_ Also, thanks to Christina-Tears for helping me bring my ideas together. And now, without further rambling, I present the next chapter! YAY! :)

A/N 2: Like I said, I really love reviews so keep 'em comming, please! Don't care what you say as long as you SAY IT! :)

Chapter Two: We Will

After that fateful day, two young children found themselves thrust into the spotlight. Being much like their still-living parents already, they took to it like a duck to water. Within months, Caspian and Laurel were probably the most spoiled, bratty, bad-tempered toddlers in England. They always got what they wanted, they were always attended too, smothered with affection.

It helped, of course, that James and Alice loved the spotlight just as much as the two children did. They were always making public appearances with the children-who-lived, always sending in pictures, always setting up parties and meet-and-greets. They always took the time to brag about there oh-so-wonderful children. Because James was the father of the boy-who-lived and Alice was the mother of the girl-who-lived, they, by extension, were treated like royalty. They loved that, of course.

By Christmas, not even two months after Lily and Frank were killed, James and Alice decided to start dating. They had always rather liked each other and they didn't want the wrong image to come about. The boy and girl who lived growing up in single parent homes? That was bad publicity. By Valentine's day Alice had moved into Potter Manor, the ancestral home of the Potters which James and Lily had moved from to go into hiding, with James, taking Laurel and, reluctantly to be sure, little Neville along with her. On July 23, 1992 James and Alice married. They had the perfect little family...except for one, or rather two, little blemishes.

While the rest of their family was thrust into the glamorous limelight, both Neville and Sofia were shoved back into the shadows. Almost every night at first they would have nightmares of that fateful night, remembering the deaths of Neville's father and Sofia's mother. They also remembered, although they dare not mention this, that it was they who Voldemort had targeted, they who had vanquished him. Every day they were barely given the basic necessities, food, clothes, shelter, and a means to be cleaned, but they were not given anything resembling love and affection. It wasn't as though their surviving parents just forgot them over time, they deliberately cut them out of their affections right away. They were just two little burdens, nothing special, they didn't matter.

But both were young and it was hard for them to understand. They knew that their twins were somehow famous and they weren't. They didn't see how, just because their siblings were special, their parents could just forget them. For the first year or two they kept trying to make James and Alice remember them. They never did anything bad, just sweet little things they had seen Caspian and Laurel praised for.

Once, when she was around two, Sofia had hugged her father around his legs and muttered a shy "Wuv-oo, Da," which she had hoped he would respond to. But he had kicked her away and reprimanded her quite harshly for wrinkling his robes.

"You've bungled up my outfit, girl, and now what? I'm to meet the Minister! I shall think of a suitable punishment for you later." he had said coldly. "And stop crying," he had barked as her eyes filled up with tears, "You've got no reason to. Would you like one?" the little girl shook her head and ran away. Neville, similarly, had hugged his mother and kissed the very tips of her fingers which she could barely reach. Instead of picking him up and hugging him like he'd seen her do to Caspian, a boy that wasn't her son, she had knocked him away.

"What are you doing, boy? Get your filthy mouth off of me. And now I've got to wash up; no bath for you tonight." were her exact words.

By the time they were around four they had simply stopped caring, at least outwardly. Sofia, who was the type of child to want to be her very best, was most hurt by this. That didn't mean that Neville wasn't hurt, he just hid it better. When Sofia would get angry at the injustice of their mistreatment, Neville was always there to cool her down and remind her that she had him. Also, from what they could both remember, Lily had genuinely cared for Sofia and Frank for Neville. Lily had even cared for Neville, a boy who was not her son, and Frank for Sofia, a girl not his own. They remembered how Frank and Lily had sacrificed themselves for them and their twins and so, even through their jaded view of the world, they loved their departed parents most of all. Neville saw Lily as more of a mother than he saw Alice, after awhile, and Sofia felt the same about Frank.

The two children would have probably grown up much more bitter and angry if it wasn't for one person. This one person was Sofia's godfather, Sirius Black. He always took the time to be with them and gave them birthday and Christmas gifts and made sure that they were living comfortably. He would enforce the fact that Neville and Sofia were deserving of love and that James and Alice were little more than arrogant, brainless twats. Sirius knew what being an outcast was like and vowed he wouldn't let any child grow up as he had. He told them that they were smart, that they were special, and that they could become well-known on their own merits. Through Sirius, they learned to never give up, to always be their best.

Both children were very intelligent, just like Frank and Lily. Like Lily, Sofia had that open sort of intelligence that everyone could spot. She was more reserved about it, however, unlike her mother. Neville was a quiet intelligent like his father but, because of Sofia and Sirius, was more willing to use it. From around three, as soon as they had a good enough grasp on reading, the two studied from the Potter library, they read books upon books of magic theory and history, books about transfiguration, charms, potions, offense, defence, arithmancy, runes, and warding. First, they started with simple childrens' picture books with basic information. By the time they were five, they could easily read books meant for children twice their age. They were going to get through life on their own merits and prove they were worth something.

They could remember the first day that they had vowed to become great. It was July 31, 1994, the day of Caspian and Laurel's big birthday bash. It didn't matter that Caspian was actually born on August 1st or that Laurel was born on July 30th, the 31st was the designated "birthday" for the children-who-lived. Other then Sirius, nobody even acknowledged that Neville and Sofia had a birthday. That was the year that they started to realise it. They could remember not being allowed to the party and being locked into their room.

-Flashback-

"Oooh! I can't believe it! My lovely little Laurel's celebrating her _FOURTH_ _BIRTHDAY!"_ Alice squealed, the first sound of Sofia's day. Yawning tiredly, the red-headed newly-four-year-old sat up in bed and rubbed at her emerald eyes.

"Good morning, Nevvy." she murmured. For a barely four-year-old, Sofia had a very good vocabulary and speech patterns. She might have missed some words and mispronounced others but both hers and Neville's speech was advanced.

"Hey, Fifi, how did you sleep?" Neville asked, also rubbing his forest green eyes, brushing some brown hair out of them.

"Bad dream." Sofia said with a cute frown.

"Me too." Neville responded.

"Oh, my big strong boy is turning _FOUR!_ He'll be a heartbreaker before we know it won't he, Alice love?" they heard James's voice from down the hall.

"The day a girl rejects the boy-who-lived will be the day that Hell freezes over! And don't forget Laurel, dear. She'll be a real beauty." Alice bragged.

"Cass is ugly." Sofia snorted. "A troll with bad hair like in the books Uncle Padfoot read and gived us."

"An' Laur's a too-pick." Neville agreed.

"But I'm turning four too!" Sofia suddenly burst out. "It's not fair! _It's_ _not_ _fair!_ _SO_ _NOT_ _FAIR!_ Why doesn't Daddy love me too?"

"I dunno, Fifi. I miss my mummy. She sung to me once, lullabies. An' Cass an' Laur, why? Laur's my twin, right? Why doesn't she love me?" Neville asked.

"Don't know, Nevvy. I miss my daddy, he told me I was pretty once, an' he was real proud I was his daughter. But not any more. An' Cass is always a meanie to me too. He's my twin brother, I love him but he doesn't love me."

"We're not like Cass an' Laur. They've got fame an' we don't." Neville said.

"Yeah but we did it, Nevvy, you know that we did it. Daddy an' Mum Al-lice, they don't love us 'cause we're not famous." Sofia said. Nothing else was said on the subject as it was then that James and Alice, all dressed up, barged through the door. James hair was messier then ever, his trademark look. A pair of fine gold glasses was perched on his narrow nose. His somewhat thin mouth was pulled into a sneer at the sight of the two children he wished were never born. His silk robes were a resplendent red trimmed in gold. His shoes were fine and polished dragon hide. Alice was all dolled up in a silk summer dress, red with gold flowers going through it. Her face had makeup on it and her narrow blue eyes had a faint bit of eye liner around them. Her blonde hair was piled up into a fancy bun, a few curling tendrils framing her face. The expression on said face was sour and disdainful as she looked down her nose at the four-year-olds.

"Here are the rules." James said abruptly. The two children, still in their pajamas, looked up at their parents expectantly. Maybe, unlike last year, they'd be allowed to go?

"First off, get yourselves dressed once we've gone; Bouncy will assist you. I won't have anybody stumbling on you in your nightclothes." Alice ordered.

"Stumblin'? the two asked together.

"What are you, stupid?" James sneered.

"Of course they are." Alice responded hatefully before turning her attention to the children. "So did you actually think you'd be allowed out?"

"Why not?" Sofia snapped defiantly. "We've got a birthday too! An' this is _REALLY_ _OURS!"_

"That's not important. It doesn't matter!" James said coldly.

"But why? Why not? Why doesn't it matter?" Neville asked softly.

"Laurel is the girl-who-lived." Alice sniffed haughtily.

"And Caspian is the boy-who-lived." James boasted.

"You, on the other hand, are nothing." Alice said, wrinkling her nose.

"And you will never be anything more then that, _NOTHING!"_ James snarled. With an exaggerated "hmph," the stuck-up couple flounced out of the room, slamming the door behind them. They didn't even care that they had left the children to wallow in their own misery.

"Mister Neville and Missy Sofia is needing to be getting dressed now." came a high-pitched voice as a small house-elf popped into the room.

"We know." Sofia said shortly, angrily. Neville shot a look at his pseudo-sister as if saying that she was being mean. He was much better at reigning in his temper then she was.

"Thanks." he added, Sofia nodded grudgingly.

"What is you be wanting to wear?" the house-elf, Bouncy, asked as she opened first Neville's and then Sofia's wardrobes.

"Don't care." Sofia muttered.

"Me neither." Neville said, finally giving into the same depressed mood Sofia was in. Looking back when she was much older, Sofia would have sworn that the blasted elf smirked at her. Before she knew it, her hair had been put into two plates with bright pink ribbons and she wore a puffy pink party dress that had once been Laurel's. Needless to say the pink clashed spectacularly with her hair. Neville wore a little purple suit with a white shirt and little purple bow tie that had once been Caspian's. The suit was hideous and Neville hated it.

"There, now you is being all dressied up just as Bouncy was being asked to do." the elf chirped before popping out. Sofia scowled and scrunched up her face in concentration. Suddenly, her hair became a shocking pink just like her dress. Hey, if the elf was going to be difficult so would she. Unlike Sofia, however, Neville couldn't do anything to match the ugly little suit. After that, the two children said nothing, did nothing. They simply flopped back onto their beds and stared up at the ceiling.

Awhile later, the party had gotten into full swing. From down below and outside they could here music playing, grown-ups talking, children laughing.

"What makes us not special, Neville? Why can't we be like other kids?" Sofia asked.

"I don't know, Sofia." Neville responded. Suddenly, the door was flung open by an exuberant Sirius black who was carrying an armload of presents.

"Well if it isn't my _FAVOURITE_ _TWINS?_ the _GOOD_ _TWINS?"_ he greeted cheerily. Instead of the usual excitement and "Uncle Padfoot" he was expecting, he just saw two depressed toddlers lying stock-still on their beds. The sight of depressed children was one he wished he would never see again but, knowing the lunkhead he was forced to call friend, he would. Sofia's pink hair didn't offset her depressed expression at all. Neatly arranging the presents on the area rug in the middle of the room he approached the children.

"Hey, what's up, kiddos?" he asked. "Is it those clothes? Don't worry, Sofe, Lily always hated pink and Frank was never too fond of purple, Nev. You'll be able to turn your hair back in a jiff, my little morpher." he smiled and changed all the pink on Sofia to blue and all the purple on Neville to a dark red.

"Thanks." the two said in a monotone, Sofia changing her hair back to normal.

"C'mon, what's up? You can tell your Uncle Siri." he said.

"Are we nothing, Uncle Sirius?" Sofia asked, asked him so seriously and sadly Sirius was stupefied at the very question.

"What?" he asked.

"Are we?" Neville asked in a small voice.

"Of _COURSE_ you're not nothing, who would tell you that?" but as he asked he knew; he knew _EXACTLY_ who would tel them that. His suspicions were promptly affirmed.

"Mummy said we were nothing." Neville admitted, head down.

"An' Daddy said we would never be more then nothing." Sofia said, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Oh, oh kitten! Oh pup! Of _COURSE_ you're not _NOTHING!_ Unbelievable...Lily would be furious...and Frank...oh God..." Sirius trailed off, bringing the two children into a tight group hug. The children stayed quiet as they opened their presents from Sirius which consisted of new toys, clothes, and several picture books as the children already loved books and were learning how to read.

"How do we 'come not nothing, Uncle Padfoot?" Sofia said.

"You're _NOT_ nothing, Fifi." Sirius said adamantly.

"Yeah but how do we 'come _MORE_ then not nothing?" Neville asked. Sirius sighed and brushed black hair away from his blue-grey eyes.

"There's more than one right answer, Nevvy. Just be yourselves. Don't conform to any one mold just because it's expected of you. I mean...if you don't want to act a certain way then _DON'T!_ Stand out! Don't intentionally seek attention but do things that will get people to notice. The only people you should have to please are yourselves. All the other sheeple don't matter. Study and learn. Never give up. Develop your interests. Don't let _ANYTHING_ get you down. And most of all, be as happy as you can be." Sirius said passionately, forgetting for a minute he was talking to a pair of newly-minted four-year-olds. Then again, they were basically ten times as smart as those dunderhead children-who-lived down there. Looking between each other, seeming to have an internal conversation, they turned back to him. Sirius couldn't help but grin at the determined looks on their little faces, the glint in the emerald and forest green eyes. Finally, they spoke in perfect unison.

"We're gonna be great!" and Sirius smiled because he knew they would.

-Flashback End-

Things truly began to get interesting right on their eighth birthday. Both of them shared the same birthday, the 31st. James and Alice had forced them to share a suite together in the same wing as the library, a wing not often used. Before they were four, they had had a shared room down the hall from Caspian's room and Laurel's room but their parents had wanted them more out of the way. Their excuses were that the children-who-lived wanted another play room and that the two ought not to share a room anyway.

The suite consisted of two bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a kitchen, (which the elves locked off until they were seven and began learning to cook,) and a decent-sized living room/study/library with two desks and chairs, a couch, coffee table, and armchairs by a fireplace, and walls lined in bookshelves. Despite hardly being used it was still part of the main manor and thus the furniture and decor was quite nice. The main room was panelled with dark cherry wood and the floor was a lighter cherry. In the centre of the room was a large crimson area rug. There were a few windows as well as a window seat. The furniture and bookshelves were cherry, the couch, armchairs, and desk chairs cushioned in brown leather. The kitchen had a white tiled floors, cream walls, and a simple cherry table and chair set. Sofia's room was done with a beechwood floor, an ocean blue area rug, an ocean blue comforter, and sky blue bed curtains, window drapes, and walls. Her bathroom had sky blue walls and alternating floor and shower tiles of ocean blue and sky blue. In Neville's room, where there was beechwood there was oak, where there was ocean blue there was forest green, and where there was sky blue there was lighter green. His bathroom had yellow walls and yellow and white tiles.

It was rather lonely, hardly anyone passed by. It was like having their own little apartment fourteen years before they were supposed to. They didn't mind it, though. The closer they were to the library the more time they had to spend in there and learn to be great. James, Alice, and especially Caspian and Laurel never set a foot in there anyway. The only person they had to worry about entering the library was Remus Lupin. The man was James's very best friend now that Sirius was distancing himself somewhat. He always was looking down at Neville and Sofia with clear disdain. Whenever they were around he would belittle and mock them. Reading was never fun with that man around but they tried their best to not pay him any mind.

"It's almost our birthday, Sofe." Neville said. As they had been doing ever since they realised they'd never really have a birthday party, they had stayed up to midnight to welcome in their birthday. They were sitting on the couch in front of their fireplace which had a fire in it, magically not letting off any heat. At almost eight he already looked the spitting image of his father. There were only a few subtle differences. These differences were that his nose was slightly shorter like Alice's and his hair was a bit less curly than his father's, more naturally wavy. He was still tall for his age as his father had been.

"Yup! We're going to turn eight, Nev." Sofia said. She as well was like her mother's spitting image. The only thing separating her from Lily was her hair. Like her mother at eight, Sofia was already tall. Both had the same colouring, a rich dark red, but like James Sofia's hair was curly. She had it down all the way to her waste. At least her hair was a bit smoother to the touch like Lily's and not so coarse like James's hair.

"There's just a minute left, do you want to count?" Neville asked.

"When do I not?" Sofia smiled at him. And so they counted down. Soon enough, they were just a few seconds away.

"Five, four, three, two, one, _HAPPY_ _BIRTHDAY!"_ the children cheered, hugging each other. Suddenly, there was a flash of pure white light and a cherry chest appeared on Sofia's lap and a mahogany trunk appeared on Neville's.

"What do you think they could be, Nev?" Sofia asked curiously.

"I don't know, Sofe. Could they be a trap?" Neville wondered.

"Nah, I don't think so...look! My trunk's got Mum's initials on it...I think. They keep switching between LMEP and LABP somehow." Sofia said. It was true. The golden initials kept twisting and changing between two forms.

"My trunk's got Dad's initials on it!" Neville exclaimed. "FAL!"

"Do you think?" Sofia asked.

"I don't know." Neville responded.

"There are time-delay spells." Sofia considered.

"But we haven't read a whole lot about them." Neville said.

"True...but this could be it! I'm going to open Mum's trunk." Sofia said. Before Neville could stop her, the girl reached out and put her thumb on the indent on the gold latch. Sofia winced as it pricked her finger, probably taking a bit of blood. The trunk glowed a soft green colour and popped open.

"Wow!" Neville breathed, looking into Sofia's trunk. There was a letter on top and many things beneath it, different books and notebooks and scrolls of parchment.

"I'm gonna open my trunk too." Neville proclaimed. With no further adieu, he put his thumb on a similar gold latch. Sofia saw her kind-of-brother wince but the trunk glowed a soft green as well, popping open.

"There's some of the same stuff in there, Nev." Sofia observed.

"You ought to read your letter first, Sofe. You were the first to open your trunk." Neville said. Sofia nodded, taking the letter out. it was sealed with a blood red wax lily. On the back, in the most beautiful blue penmanship it read: To My Dearest Sofia. Little fingers shaking slightly, Sofia opened the letter and took the parchment out.

"We should put up silencing spells, right?" Neville asked.

"Good thinking." Sofia agreed. That was another thing that made them special; they had gained full control over their magic. They had never been told that nobody could do wandless magic, and so they did. They had read in theory about connecting with one's core and in basic occlumency books about meditating and finding one's centre. They only knew basic first and second year silencing spells as well as a few third and fourth year spells, they hadn't mastered the owl spells yet, but the Potter adults weren't smart enough to try and surpass them or to even think them capable. Neville cast the spells on the door and walls, Sofia cast them at the ceiling, floor, and windows.

"C'mon, Sofe, read it aloud!" Neville urged. Sitting on the couch next to Neville, Sofia took a deep breath and began.

"My Dearest Sofia:

As I write this you sleep peacefully in your crib. Your father insisted on taking Caspian out onto his broom so that is where he is. I write this for many reasons, child. If you are receiving this and the trunk it means I have died. I am quite certain that I have. I spelled it to go to you on your eighth birthday because I know you are intelligent and will understand this. There are many things that you must know and I don't know quite how to put it.

If I am correct, your father is still alive? Frank Longbottom is dead? Your father and Frank's wife, Alice, are together? Two children are getting credit for something that they didn't do? One of these children is Caspian, your twin? The other is Neville Longbottom's twin, Laurel? Now don't be quite so shocked. You might not know this, dear, but I am an Unspeakable. Frank Longbottom is as well. Of course, James and Alice never knew. Nobody outside the Department of Mysteries knows who is and is not an Unspeakable. I am sending this letter and this trunk because within there is everything that you and Neville, who I assume you are very close too, will need to become great.

You are destined for great things, my child, you and Neville. You see, aside from the prophecy about the two marked children that Sibyl Trelawney made in the summer of 1990, there is a prophecy that has been sitting in the Department of Mysteries for decades. The prophecy made shortly after your birth would be the reason, if any, Voldemort would attack us. Some may consider you far too young but I know you can handle this for you are wise beyond your years. The ones of different blood, the ones with the power to vanquish the dark lord approach, each born to one who who has thrice defied him, each born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord shall mark him and her as his equals, and they shall have the power the dark lord knows not. Either side must perish by the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The ones of different blood, the ones with the power to vanquish the dark lord approach. It could easily point to either you and Neville or Caspian and Laurel. Here is the prophecy that only Unspeakables know, the one that points clearly to you. I have been given permission to write it to you, Frank the same for Neville.

Two children wrongly thrust in the spotlight,

Two others wrongly shoved in the shadows.

Whilst their twins are thought to be the saviours,

Marked with false scars, false praises sung to them,

The true lightning-marked do nothing but wait.

Raised by her father and his mother,

For his father and her mother are gone,

Gone through a sacrifice, brave as lions,

They grow up forgotten and unloved,

Whilst their twins are their sweet, golden children.

The boy, gentle, forest-eyed and brown-haired,

The girl, feisty, emerald-eyed with red hair.

Both with intelligence near-unrivalled,

At an early age they vow to be great.

And they shall become their world's salvation,

Bringing it into a pure golden age.

But they cannot do it without some help,

Ten shall gather to help them with their plight.

One of a family Black, well-trusted.

Two unknown relatives of the sweet girl.

Twin flame-heads breaking from their family.

Dragon-loving brother of the flame-heads.

A girl, loony, mistress of illusions.

A boy-dragon, fighting how he was raised.

Dragon and Black's kin, a chameleon.

And a girl, cast in her sister's shadow.

And so they shall be gathered together,

And they shall make such wonderful changes,

Led by the shadow twins to a new dawn.

I know that you two can do it. I have total faith in you. In this trunk, as well as in Neville's trunk from Frank, you will find everything. You will find all of my school books, all of my notes, all of my journals, and all of my work as an Unspeakable. Also, you will find some of my more personal things; pictures, jewellery, and my wand which I have spelled to automatically appear upon my death. It is willow and dragon heartstring, nine and three quarter inches, take good care of it. Also, to hide both yours and Neville's trunks from sight as well as for other things, there is an invisibility cloak in each. They have been modified by the Unspeakables, including myself and Frank, to be the best they can be. They are not only invisibility cloaks but impervious to magic and can completely hide something as if they aren't even there, not even tangible to those who are not informed. We call them the Fidelius Cloaks. They were just being developed when we entered the Unspeakables. Probably, by the time you are reading this, they will be commonly used among the higher Unspeakables. They are expensive to make, however. I imagine they will be quite useful.

Please know, my sweetest baby, that you are loved. You are a beautiful, strong, intelligent girl. I know that you will grow up into a wonderful woman, beautiful in every way that matters, a woman I can be proud of. I will always be watching you. I hope that there will always be a spot in your heart for me even if I could not raise you.

All My Love,

Mum"

Shaking, tears in her eyes, Sofia lowered the letter and gently put it back into its envelope. As she put it back into the trunk, she spotted a jewellery box on the top of the pile of things in the trunk. Reverently, Sofia opened it and gasped at what lay inside. Firstly, there was a pair of beautiful silver earrings with teardrop-shaped emeralds dangling from them. Also, there was a gorgeous locket, silver and teardrop-shaped, with a smaller, teardrop-shaped emerald in the centre. The locket hung on an intricate, delicate silver chain. Turning it over, she saw the initials LE engraved into the back. Gasping, she opened it. On the left was a moving picture of her mother, twenty or twenty-one years old, wearing the locket. On the right, there was a picture of her mother holding her at around the age of six months. She also wore the locket. Tears in her eyes, she shut the locket.

"Oh, Nev, there's a note!" she gasped. Carefully, she picked it up and read it aloud.

"Dearest Sofia:

Here are some things to remember me by. My father and mother gave me this set before I went off to Hogwarts. It is very dear to me as they were killed by Voldemort himself the summer before my third year. Later in my school career and after, I put on some minor protection charms. Both the earrings and necklace will heat up when facing poison and cool down when someone is attempting mind magic on you. Also, both will protect you from minor spells. I put strengthening and never-wear charms on them as well so you can wear them where and when you like. Water won't even damage them now. Lastly, there are anti-summoning and anti-removal charms. Nobody can remove or do anything with them but you and those who you give permission to. I love you, dearest daughter, and I know I would be proud. It doesn't matter what house you're in, I'll be proud even if you decided to forsake magic.

All My Love,

Mum"

Sofia's voice was shaking by the end. Gently, she put the note back into the jewellery box. With much care, she fastened it around her neck so it dangled down a bit past her collar bone, it would probably rest right below or on it when she was older. She had had her ears pierced when she was six, Sirius had done it because "not even Laurel is that cool yet!" so she then took out the simple pair of pink studs and put the dangling earrings in her ears. She would never take them off if she could help it. Gently shutting the jewellery box, Sofia put it back into her mother's trunk. Before she knew it she was crying into Neville's shoulder.

"Neville...she loved me...she really did. It's one thing...to here it from Uncle Padfoot...but to see it written...and to have something...to remember her by...oh Neville!" she sobbed. Gently, Neville put one arm around her whilst carting his fingers through her red curls; it was one of the only ways to calm her when she cried, which wasn't often.

"She writes like you." he said. "Same S's and everything; she even writes your name almost like you do." Neville said."

"Yeah...maybe you should read your letter?" Sofia said, pulling back and furiously wiping at her puffy eyes. Neville nodded. His letter was sealed with a forest green wax tree. On the back, in scrawling green, it read: To my Special Neville. Neville, as Sofia had earlier, opened his letter with trembling fingers. Once he had it, he read it aloud.

Neville's letter said much the same as Sofia's. About Frank's position as an Unspeakable, about the prophecies, etc. Like Lily, he had said how much he loved Neville and was sure he'd be proud of him. As he put it back in the trunk, Neville saw his own jewellery box. Opening it, he gasped. Inside was a beautiful white gold ring. On it, there was a small circle of onyx stones around an emerald. On the inside of the band, the name Frank was engraved. In the box as well was a beautiful but masculine white gold chain; one long enough to keep hidden in Neville's shirt.

"There...there's a note, too." he stammered. Slowly, he picked it up and read it.

"My Neville:

This ring was given to me by my mother and father for Christmas after I was sorted. It was made for me with my name engraved. There are some protection charms on it and the chain, they will heat up when you are faced with poison and cool down when somebody is attempting any mind magic on you. They will protect you from minor spells as well. Also, it and the chain have strengthening and never-wear charms so they cannot grow brittle or rust, at least not for a few decades. Lastly, they have anti-summoning and anti-removal charms so only you and those you key in can do anything with them. I will always be proud of you no matter if you're a Puff like me, a Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor. Even if you forsake magic, I don't care. Remember, my son, how I love you.

All my Love,

Dad"

As if handling crown jewels, Neville slid the ring on the chain and put it on his neck. He would never take it off if he could help it. Then, he put the jewellery box back into the trunk. This time, it was Sofia's turn to comfort Neville as he cried onto her shoulder for the father he had lost.

"I...I always thought...he died...for Laurel and me after all...but reading it...just knowing..." he trailed off. Sofia stayed silent, just letting her best friend and brother cry on her shoulder, one arm around him, rubbing soothing circles in his back.

"We'll need to hide this stuff like Mum and Dad said." Sofia said. Ever since the two were around four, after that birthday, they had gradually stopped calling James and Alice "Dad and Mum Alice" and "Mum and Dad James," instead choosing to refer to them by their given names. They were, however, forced to call them Mother and Father when around them or their spoiled twins. For just as long, Sofia had been calling Frank "Dad" and Neville had been calling Lily "Mum".

"Yeah." Neville said. Both of them dug around in the trunks and eventually came out with two slick, silver cloaks. Once those were out, the children shut the lids.

"We'd best get to bed. The children-who-lived-to-be-a-pain-in-the-butt have their big eighth birthday party tomorrow." Sofia said.

"Yeah. We wouldn't want to miss that, would we?" Neville asked, both of them laughed.

"Good night, Nev." Sofia said, standing up.

"Good night, Sofe." Neville responded, also standing. Both children hugged each other briefly. Then, grabbing their things, they went into their separate bedrooms.

Both of them, their parents still on their mind, slung the cloaks over their trunks, putting them at the end of their beds. Then, yawning, they climbed under the covers. Both Sofia and Neville vowed before they dropped into dreamland that they would do their best to make their mum and dad proud.


	3. You May Call Me Luna

A/N:

Hey! I really hope people are enjoying this story. Okay, so Neville and Sofia might act a wee bit older than they actually are. I haven't been eight years old in more then a decade so cut me some slack, all right? Plus, they're both very bright and mature and then there's their upbringing to think about. I'm trying not to make them seem unrealistic but do feel free to tell me in a review or a PM what you think about them. For all you Sirius lovers out there, sorry but he doesn't show up in this chapter. Neither do the nasty brats-who-lived, not yet, at any rate. Don't worry, though, they'll be a major part of the next chapter, or at least a part. In this chapter, Sofia and Neville test their new cloaks, talk to some interesting portraits, and befriend Luna Lovegood, hence the chapter title. Also, Luna can be a bit hard to write so bare with me, okay? I'm doing my best. I love her character and I love writing her but I'm just afraid I'm not doing her any justice. Anyhow, I warn you now that there will be, like in the last chapter, a bit of mental/emotional abuse of Neville and Sofia by Alice and James as well as some slight physical, a slap each. That's about as intense as I'll go, however. If anyone gets violent it'll be their twins. There is also some passive Ron/Ginny/Caspian/Laurel bashing as well as mentions of hypothetical incest, not real incest, people, because that's just gross. Now I know that usually eight-year-olds don't know what the hell incest is but, like I said, Neville and Sofia are already much more mature and have read more books than most including old genealogies where, guess what? _INCEST_ is shown. There will _NEVER_ be any incest in _ANY_ of my stories so don't freak, please. Neville was just picking up on Luna's odd sense of humour and making her laugh. And you'll notice that I mentioned Luna's mother; that wasn't a mistake. If you'll remember, she didn't die until Luna was nine, at least a year away from this point. I haven't decided, however, if I'm going to kill her or not. What do you think?

I also really appreciate reviews, they make me happy. I don't care what the devil you have to say as long as you say it, dang it! And if you wanna flame, go right ahead. Just note if you're too harsh you'll make some poor girl cry; do you wanna do that? (Sniff sniff?) Just kidding. Write what you want, I don't care. Why should I care what a total stranger says? Exactly! I _SHOULDN'T!_ Anyway, _PLEASE_ review. You don't have to and I'm not pressuring you to so I don't want to turn you off reviewing. Maybe I shouldn't ask for reviews, I seem to get less that way. Anyway, thanks to Harrymania 1978, Bluerock 7, (I think that's your name,) Kab-OldEnoughToDie, Christina-Tears, and all the others for their fantastic and much-appreciated reviews. And now, I say enjoy the story!

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Chapter Three: You May Call Me Luna

The next morning, both Sofia and Neville woke up to somebody knocking irritatingly loudly on their main door. Rubbing her eyes, Sofia stumbled into the main room, Neville coming out not long after.

"We're coming, we're coming!" Sofia called but it didn't seem as though they were heard.

"Oops...forgot to take the silencing charms down." Neville said. With a few deft flicks from both of them, the charms collapsed and they opened the door.

"Well it's about bloody time, isn't it?" James barked. This year, like every year, he was wearing red robes trimmed in gold. Neither Neville or Sofia would be surprised if there was a big lion on the back. His shoes were black and shining, his gold glasses perched on his narrow nose, his hair purposefully all mussed up. Alice was all dolled up again, her hair was put up into a plait which was then twisted into a bun. Like usual, she wore makeup. Also, her robes were red with little gold vines twisting through them. Sofia gave Neville a look as if saying: "Original, huh?" and he responded with a "They win the prize, yeah?" look. Both of them attempted to hold back their giggles but they couldn't help the slight smirks appearing on their faces.

"Don't give us that look, boy! Girl! Respect your betters." Alice demanded.

"Yes, Mother." Neville said.

"We're sorry, Mother." Sofia said. Both of the children exchanged disgusted looks with one another. Totally dishonouring Neville's true father and Sofia's true mother, James had forced Neville into calling him "Father" and Alice had forced Sofia to call her "Mother" ever since they could remember.

"As you should be." James said stiffly.

"Now it's about time you get properly dressed." Alice snapped at them.

"And no, you're not allowed downstairs to the party." James said, anticipating their question.

"You'd think the little urchins would realise that by now, wouldn't you, love?" Alice simpered, not even paying attention to the two children still standing there.

"Of course; they'll never learn. Their intelligence is nothing compared to Caspian and Laurel." James agreed. Sofia, who didn't have as much of a hold on her emotions as Neville, snorted and began to giggle.

"Two...plus...two...equals...FIVE!" she wheezed out, her giggles turning into a full-blown laugh. Neville, hearing her antics, couldn't help but snort and begin to laugh as well.

"Paris...is...the capital...of...HILTON!" he choked out, beginning to laugh just as hard as Sofia. These had really been said before. Neville and Sofia had spied on one of Caspian and Laurel's lessons a few months ago and they were still having trouble with basic maths and capitals. The two plus two equals five bit had been said by Caspian, the "Paris Hilton" crack was something Laurel had said as, apparently, Paris Hilton was also from a magical family so they would know about her. They weren't jealous of their twins' fame, really they weren't, but that didn't mean that Neville and Sofia didn't think that Caspian and Laurel deserved to be mocked; famous people were supposed to be smart, right?

"The thing that goes woof is a _PADFOOT!"_ Neville gasped out, quoting something Caspian had said back when they were four.

"The world revolves around _ME!"_ Sofia said in a mock-snobby voice; Laurel had said that when they were six.

"Three...times...three...is _THIRTY-THREE!"_ the two finished together, their gales of laughter growing even louder.

"How _DARE_ you!" Alice shrieked. Then, a snarl upon her face, she vaulted forward and slapped Sofia on her left cheek. At the same time, disgust written upon his face, James did the same to Neville's right.

"You _FILTHY_ _SQUIBS!_ Do you _HONESTLY_ think you could _EVER_ be _SMARTER_ then the children-who-lived?" James roared as he and Alice stepped back from the children, both blinking pained tears from their eyes.

"As we've drilled into your minuscule minds over and _OVER_ _Again_ you are _NOTHING!_ No more than _FILTHY_ _SQUIBS!_ _DISGUSTING!"_ Alice growled furiously.

"We'd better not hear a _PEEP_ of you _OR_ _ELSE!"_ James threatened, raising and shaking his bony fist.

"And to keep you in we will be _LOCKING_ the _DOOR!_ Do you _UNDERSTAND?"_ Alice demanded sharply. The two children nodded, cheeks still smarting from their treatment. With one last glare at each of them, the Potters left the room. As the door slammed, they could here the lock sliding into place. As soon as their footsteps faded, Sofia spoke.

"As if we haven't got any magic? _REALLY!_ Squib _INDEED!_ Not that there's anything wrong with Squibs, of course, but if there's anyone in this family who's Squibs it'd be the terror twins." she said to Neville, magically unlocking the door. "And they used a flipping _FIRST-YEAR_ _SPELL!_ _PATHETIC!"_

"sofia, you shouldn't have done that. THE laughing and mocking. It's fine for us to joke alone but you know how much they hate when we do that around them. It just gets us in trouble." Neville said. "But yeah, the locking spell _WAS_ a sad attempt.

"I'm sorry, Nev, but I just couldn't resist. And you laughed too, don't forget." I said.

"Yeah, it _WAS_ kind of funny, wasn't it? They think we're the dunderheads; they ought to look at the golden children down there." Neville said.

"Yeah. I'm gonna get dressed and showered. See you in thirty?" Sofia asked.

"Sure. I'll do the same." Neville said. Turning in opposite directions, the two went into their rooms.

Half an hour later, they both were back in the main room. Neville wore a simple pair of black overalls with a light green top and slip-on trainers. Sofia wore a pair of flip-flops, denim shorts, and a light blue tank top. These were some of the clothes Sirius had bought them; they would rather not wear any of Caspian and Laurel's old clothes, thank-you-very-much, although they sometimes had to, especially when they were a bit younger and more the same size as their twins. Neville's hair was neatly combed while Sofia's was thrown into a messy ponytail, a few of her curls escaping from it.

"Can't tame your hair, Sofe?" Neville asked her.

"You'd think after all this time you'd know the answer, Nev." Sofia sighed.

"But I don't get it! You're a metamorphmagus! You ought to be able to tame it, right?" Neville asked.

"I'm not trained, Nev, and I'm only just eight. I can only do hair and eye colour, you know that. Someday I'll be able to do everything else but not now." Sofia said.

"Oh, all right then. I guess that makes sense." Neville agreed. At that moment, there was a pop and a house-elf with long, floppy ears and violet eyes appeared in the middle of the room.

"Your breakfast is being ready, Mister Neville and Missy Sofia. You is needing to eat now!" she said in a high, squeaky voice.

"What's for breakfast, Violet?" Neville asked curiously.

"You is having eggs and toast. Is that being okay?" the elf asked nervously.

"That sounds great, Vdrixna, thank you." Sofia said with a slight smile.

"You is needing to stop that, little mister and missy! Lowly Floppy is not being deserving of goodlier humany names or to be called by Floppy's elf name as if Floppy is being an...an _EQUAL!"_ the elf said, twisting her tea towel between her hands nervously.

"But you are, Drix." Neville said softly.

"You are deserving of everything a wizard deserves, Vi." Sofia said, backing Neville up. Ever since they had started to read, Neville and Sofia had come upon books filled with bias towards many things; some of these biases were towards sentient beings such as house-elves, goblins, centaurs, and even Muggles. It disgusted them to no end what was put in these books. One of them was called: So You Have An Elf? A Creature Management Guide. One of the passages read: "It is unwise to fit these lower creatures with names resembling those of humans. Do not bother to refer to them by their elfin name as that gives the signal that you see them as equal. Also, giving them a normal human name to replace the elfin name would be catastrophic, giving the creatures a sense of self-worth." this made both children want to be sick. And from that point onwards, every elf they met they would either use their given elfin name, which was very hard to extract from the poor dears, or a human name that fit their personality or a specific trait. Violet was named for her vibrant violet eyes. It turns out that Violet was a human translation of the elfin name Vdrixna which was this particular elf's birth name. The elf, Vdrixna, said nothing; she simply led the children into the small kitchen/dining room where the elves always put their meals and where, upon their request a year ago, they had started teaching the two children to cook for themselves.

"So what do you say we do after breakfast, Neville?" Sofia asked after a few bites of toast.

"I don't know, Sofia. What do you think?" he asked her.

"I think...I think we should _EXPLORE!_ Get out of the Cage for a while, huh? We won't have lunch 'til noon and it's only just 8:00 now and Sirius said he wouldn't be able to make it before then. What do you think?"

"But we could get _CAUGHT!"_ Neville spluttered.

"Nuh-uh, Nev." Sofia stated smugly.

"Huh?" the boy asked confusedly.

"_HONESTLY!_ Have you already forgotten about the Fidelius Cloaks?" the young red-head asked, exasperated.

"Oh...oops. I guess I did." Neville said sheepishly.

"Well then there's our solution, right?"

"No, not right. We don't know how well they work at _ALL,_ Sofia." Neville protested.

"They can't be _THAT_ bad, Neville. They were made by _UNSPEAKABLES_ for _GOD'S_ _SAKE."_ Sofia argued back.

"Still, you never know, right?" Neville asked.

"Right! And you never know until you try, right?" Sofia shot back.

"I guess you're right. You never know until you try." Neville conceded reluctantly.

"So my plan is a go?"

"No, your plan is a no-go." Neville said.

"Oh c'mon!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"It'll be fun!"

"No."

"We'll be right under everyone's noses!"

"No."

"For magic? For science? For _ME?"_ Sofia asked cutely, brightening the colour of her eyes a bit.

"N-n-no." Neville stammered, trying not to give into that look. Sofia didn't need to change her eyes to puppy-dog brown to get the puppy-dog pout look to work perfectly on Neville. He'd cave, she knew he would.

"Oh c'mon, Nevvy! Pretty please? Pwetty pwetty pwease _pwease_ _PWEASE?"_ Sofia begged.

"_FINE!_ We can go exploring, happy now?" Neville asked.

"_YES!"_ Sofia cheered before promptly beginning to shovel food in her mouth.

"You know what gets me don't you, Fifi? And stop eating like that; you look like Ronald Weasley." Neville said. Sofia simply stuck her tongue out at him. The Weasleys were related to Neville through his mother; Molly Weasley was Alice Potter's sister. Both of them noticeably resembled one another in facial structure, height, and through the blue eyes but where Alice was blonde, Molly had a mop of orange-red hair. Where Alice was thin and twiggy, Molly was, to be polite, pleasantly plump. None-the-less, because of their relation, the Weasley children had come over to Potter Manor often. As they were not shut up on those days, for the Weasleys knew of the forgotten twins in the first place, both Neville and Sofia had had some run-ins with the youngest Weasley boy. He was a rude, boorish oaf and his little sister was nothing but a swooning fan-girl. The only Weasleys that Neville and Sofia could marginally tolerate were the twins although they had not met them more than a few times because they were often in trouble and grounded back at home.

Anyway, yes, she knew just how to get Neville to agree to things. Sofia was the more outgoing, extroverted one who was a bit hot-headed, adventurous, and a touch mischievous. Neville was often the calm, collected one, a bit more reserved and serious. However, whenever Sofia got angry or was insulted he could have a very nasty temper. Also, when Sofia got started on something, like her laughing fit earlier, Neville couldn't help but join in. Even if Sofia seemed a bit rash and impulsive she often thought things through logically before bringing them up to Neville; he knew that she almost always thought the best and worst case scenario of what would happen. Still, some of her ideas were just...so Gryffindor. If he wanted Sofia to mellow out a bit, all he had to do was say she was "acting Gryffindor" and she'd be quiet as a mouse. Then again, Neville did have his "Gryffindor" moments and Sofia had had to use that phrase on him nearly as much.

The two children finished breakfast quickly and their dishes automatically disappeared from the table. After standing up and pushing their chairs in, they went into the main room and the kitchen door clicked shut behind them. Going into their separate rooms, each of them pulled the Fidelius Cloaks off of their new trunks. To be safe, Neville shoved his trunk under the bed and Sofia lugged hers into the connected closet, shutting the door tight and using a first-year locking spell. After that was done, they met back up in the main room.

"I've got an idea." Sofia proclaimed.

"What's that?" Neville asked curiously.

"Before we go out, we'll take turns putting our cloaks on to see if we can detect each other. If not, then we're good."

"Sounds like a good idea. You wanna go first?"

"Sure." Sofia responded. Taking a deep breath, Sofia flung the cloak on. It automatically resized itself to Sofia's body, wrapping snugly around her.

"Neville! Yoo-hoo! Neville, can you hear me? _NEVILLE!"_ Sofia called, screaming the last part. Neville just stood there, looking confused. Sofia then walked up and touched his shoulders, squeezing them slightly. He didn't even notice. Sofia then went running and skipping around the room, making to her what was a lot of noise.

"Okay...I know you're there...but you're spooking me a bit, Sofe." Neville said. Sofia grinned. Going off of what she knew of the Fidelius charm itself, Sofia spoke.

"Sofia Lillian Potter can be found by Neville Franklin Longbottom under this Fidelius Cloak." Suddenly, Neville's eyes snapped to her. "Did it work? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. But it's just like you're under an ordinary invisibility cloak now." Neville said.

"I'm curious about something so just bare with me: Sofia Lillian Potter does fully hide the knowledge of the Fidelius Cloak from Neville Franklin Longbottom." Sofia said. Suddenly, Neville could no longer here her.

"_WICKED!_ It works _PERFECTLY!"_ Sofia squealed, throwing the cloak off. "Now are you up for some wandering?"

"Definitely." Neville agreed. After throwing on their cloaks and trading secrets, the two left their rooms, stepping out into the corridor. The Potter Manor was rather large and not all of the space was used. James and Alice always got nasty if they found the two in a place that was "out of bounds," which was basically everywhere but the corridor they lived on. It was sad to say but in six and a half years of living in Potter Manor they still hadn't had the chance to fully explore it. The two children meandered down the corridor, coming closer to the library. Suddenly, they were stopped by the speech of a full-sized portrait hanging to the left of the door.

"_I_ _SAY!_ What are you two doing? Sneaking around like that?" It was an old seventeenth-century woman. She wore a stiff-looking periwinkle blue dress that went well with her blue eyes. Her hair was an unruly auburn with black lowlights. Both children jumped, turning sharply towards her. She was young, about twenty-five or so but seemed much older in some ways.

"Aun-Aun-Auntie Trice?" Sofia stammered. "Auntie Trice," also known as Beatrice Potter, was Sofia's great-great-great-something-or-other-aunt. She had spent most all of her time doing research in the library and thus she was its guardian. She had died young, at the age of twenty-six, in an explosion of one of her experimental potions.

"How did you find us?" Neville asked her.

"It's easy, really. I am a portrait and thus not human." Auntie beatrix told them.

"So...so...so you mean _ANY_ portrait can see us?" Neville stammered.

"Even that nasty one of Great-Uncle Aleric on the first floor and the one with Great-Grandmama Nadine? The one that's always talking down to us?" Sofia asked.

"Thankfully no." Auntie Beatrice told them. The children let out sighs of relief but the portrait woman was not done speaking to them. "Even so, you two, you ought to be more cautious. You should have thought about other variables that are not the live humans downstairs. What about the portraits? The elves? Could Lily or Frank have misguidedly told the secret of the cloaks to someone else? You are young yet and shall make mistakes but I must warn you to be more careful from now on, all right?"

"Yes, Auntie Trice." the two said, chagrined.

"Who does know the secret of the cloak? Do you know?" Sofia asked.

"No humans do. Even if they did before, from what Lily told me, the information would have died with her. The only reason I remember is because I am not living, strictly speaking." Auntie Beatrice explained.

"But how'd Mum ever get to talk to you? She, James, Caspian, and Sofia here all lived in Godric's Hollow, right?" Neville asked.

"Only until they went into hiding. In the early days of their marriage and of Caspian and Sofia's life, they lived here in Potter Manor. They only moved out because they thought this would be too obvious a place to look and James didn't want his ancestral home destroyed. Lily got to know many of the portraits and decided who she could and could not trust. I became one who she could. Only those trustworthy enough, and I think you know who, will be able to detect you." she explained.

"Okay. Thanks, Auntie Trice." Sofia said.

"Yeah. We'll make sure to be a bit more careful from now on." Neville said. Auntie Beatrice simply nodded.

"Go on, get, you little rapscallions, and have some fun!" the portrait smiled, making a shooing motion with her hands. Giggling at her antics, the two children walked on. For a while, they simply moseyed along the corridors of the old manor house, talking to the portraits that could detect them. Among those were mainly distant aunts and uncles of Sofia.

The Potter portraits were divided into two distinct factions. There was the faction that felt that James and Alice ought to treat all of their children equally and the faction that believed that neither Sofia or Neville mattered. Sofia didn't matter because she, although older, was female and had to be accepted, unlike a male heir, by the family magic as worthy despite her "lesser" gender. These portraits hoped that the Potter magic which was imbibed into the signet ring would not choose her so that Caspian, the male, would automatically become heir apparent. They knew that James could not disown her for fear of tarnishing his perfect image. Back in the old days, families had had "an heir and a spare," but there hadn't been a "spare" in more than a hundred years, all Potter generations since then consisting of only children. By the old rules, unless Sofia was not accepted, she was the "heir," or rather "heiress," and Caspian the "spare" to these particular portraits' eternal horror. They didn't care about Neville because he was not even a Potter. His situation was opposite; if the family magic rejected his older twin, he would automatically become the heir. As it was, he was the "spare" of the Longbottom family and his sister the heiress at the moment. The only way for Neville to claim heirship of the Longbottoms was if Laurel was rejected or denounced the Longbottom name. Anyway, these portraits looked upon Sofia and Neville with disdain as their parents did.

Auntie Beatrice as well as, surprisingly, the big portrait of Sofia's grandparents belonged to the former faction. Like the portraits of all former Lord and Lady Potters before them, Charlis and Dorea Potter hung proudly on the back wall of the entrance hall above the first landing of the main staircase. Both parents were extremely disappointed in their son's actions and highly disapproving of his second wife. They approved of Lily much more which, for Dorea, was saying something as she had been a member of the Black family, notorious in its hatred for Muggle-borns and Muggles. They felt that Alice was nothing more than a gold-digging whore out for the Potter fortune but James didn't care. Both Charlis and Dorea knew now that they had certainly spoiled him far too much as a child and so he had turned out like that. They wouldn't have spoiled James nearly so much but it had been very hard to conceive him. Dorea and Charlis were both 40 years old when he came into the world. Although 40 wasn't even middle age for witches and wizards, the pregnancy had been very hard on Dorea and she was told that she would not be able to have any more children. Children, to both of them, were precious gifts and how James and Alice could treat two of their own with such disgust and loathing was beyond them. Shortly after Alice had moved in with James, he and his painted parents had had a falling out and now the only people they would talk to were Sirius, the son they wish they had bore themselves, Sofia, their granddaughter, and Neville, who was as good as a grandson. Needless to say that at least Sofia knew of some Potters she could be proud to be related to.

Before they knew it, the two children were near the main family quarters where James, Alice, Caspian, and Laurel lived. They had taken the long way around to get there; ordinarily it wasn't too far off from the library's wing.

"Do you hear something?" Sofia said suddenly. Neville turned his head back and forth, listening. From a room further down the corridor, they could both here a muffled sobbing sound. Rushing towards it, they found it to be coming from one of Caspian and Laurel's many abandoned playrooms. Looking in, they saw a young girl, about their age, curled up in a red beanbag chair. Her shoulders were shaking with the force of her sobs. Pale hands were pressed up to her face and scraggly, dirty-blonde hair was falling into it. The girl was wearing a pair of canary yellow dress robes and matching shoes.

"She seems upset." Sofia said. Should we help her?"

"Yeah. Who knows what happened; she was probably teased or something. She seems the sort our twins would tease a lot." Neville agreed. Taking a deep breath, for they had very rarely interacted with other children before, they threw off their Fidelius Cloaks, tucking them under their arms. The girl jumped, her startled eyes, which were protuberant and bluish silver, looking up at them in surprise and a measure of shock.

"Hello!" Sofia chirped, coming into the room and plopping onto a beanbag chair next to the girl's.

"Yeah, hi!" Neville said, taking a chair for himself.

"Oh, erm, h-h-hi!" she stammered.

"Are you okay?" Sofia asked.

"You seem a bit upset." Neville observed.

"Oh, it's nothing; I am used to it." the girl said serenely, wiping away her tears.

"It seems like something. Anyway, I'm Sofia Potter and this is Neville Longbottom." Sofia stated.

"Nice to meet you." Neville added.

"Really? I was unaware that _THEY,_ the children-who-lived, that is, had _SIBLINGS!_ If you were a boy and you were a girl instead of being a girl and boy I would certainly say that you were clones created by the Rot-Fang Conspirators. But I believe you are genuine." she stated calmly.

"Oh." Sofia said, not knowing what else to say.

"So, erm, what's your name?" Neville asked.

"By your sister and brother and a few others I am called Little Loopy Loser Loony Lovegood, Loony for short. You, however, may call me Luna." the girl stated nonchalantly. Sofia gasped and angrily clenched her fists, Neville doing the same.

"Those...those...those...how _COULD_ _THEY?"_ Sofia snarled furiously.

"I...I just thought...it't would...be only us...that they bullied...but _YOU?_ Someone not of the family? That's _NOT_ _RIGHT!"_ Neville stated passionately.

"But I am used to it. I am loony, they all say that. I don't mind, really." Luna said.

"Yes you _DO!_ You were _CRYING_ because of those prats, weren't you? And even if you _DIDN'T_ mind you certainly _OUGHT_ _TOO!"_ Sofia said adamantly.

"It's not right! Nobody should be calling you that. Nobody should be bullying you either." Neville agreed.

"Nor should they bully you. You take what you do not deserve, they receive everything that you ought to have instead. Parents, love, friends and family. You are hidden in shadows but inner gold light shall weaken them, Neville Longbottom, Sofia Potter." Luna's eyes were dreamy and unfocused.

"H-H-How?" the two children stammered. Luna simply smiled serenely at them.

"The Shifting Warpidoodles told me so." she said. Neville and Sofia exchanged curious looks.

"Shifting Warpidoodles?" they asked her together.

"Oh, oh yes. They love to show me things; whether I should skip down the left path or the right path or choose a path to crab-walk down backwards or whether I shan't take a path at all. Quite fascinating creatures, really. They simply love showing off. You shift too, don't you, Sofia?"

"Erm, yeah. The Shifting Warpidoodles told you?"

"Oh yes. But they tell me that you're not entirely alone; you do have family. The pad-footed one." Luna told them. Again, Neville and Sofia exchanged looks.

"We don't just have him anymore, Luna." Neville started shyly.

"We've got you as a friend now, if you'll have us?" Sofia asked. Luna started crying again but this time she was crying happy tears.

"Shall I tell you of myself? Yes, I believe I shall. Mummy and Daddy named me Luna Celandine Lovegood." she said.

"I was fully named Sofia Lillian Evans." Sofia stated.

"And I am Neville Franklin Longbottom." her dearest friend told the young girl.

"It is a pleasure. I shall turn eight on September 2nd. It really is a shame; if Mummy had had me but a day or two sooner I'd have been quite clear to enter Hogwarts a year earlier than I shall be. Daddy says he might talk to the headmaster about early entrance but neither Daddy or Mummy or I think that anything will come of that. I shall be going to Hogwarts along with Ginevra Weasley. We live across the valley in Ottery St. Catchpole from one another. We were friends when we were quite small but have drifted apart. I believe the rackspurts have caused her to forget my name for she calls me Loony now." Luna said. Although she seemed quite calm and accepting of the whole thing neither Neville or Sofia were thick enough, as their twins and the two youngest Weasleys might be, to believe that it didn't hurt her.

"Ignore her, Luna. Ginny Weasley is nothing but a silly little fan-girl, fixed on my twin brother's fame." Sofia stated firmly.

"And have you seen that dumbstruck look Ron gets with Laurel? I'm sure he wouldn't be averse to incest." Neville said, showing his rarely-seen funny side, the side where one couldn't really tell whether he was serious or not.

"_EW!_ Neville, that's absolutely _DISGUSTING!_ I _SO_ didn't need to hear that _LOVELY_ description." Sofia burst out. Neville began laughing, setting Luna off as well with a shy little laugh that grew louder and more confident the more she giggled like the little girl she was, it wasn't time for her to be so serious yet.

"At least I got her to laugh, right?" Neville smiled.

"But like that, you bloody prat?" Sofia asked, reaching around the laughing Luna and lightly slugging Neville on the shoulder.

"Thank you, I do believe I needed that quite badly. Luna said.

"Glad to help." Neville and Sofia said together.

"So we're friends?" Luna asked shyly, her laughter slowly ebbing away along with that of the others.

"Of course." Sofia said.

"Always." Neville added. Smiling, Luna put an arm around each of her friends. It felt so nice to have children around who weren't teasing her, children who had gotten their fair share of teasing themselves. Also, Neville and Sofia were finally glad to have a friend who was their age, a friend who understood them, a friend who took them as they were.

"Always." all three children repeated with a smile.


End file.
